Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Who would you trust to give you good advice on how to best function as a Baby Boomer Entrepreneur?

The Washington Post was interested in finding the best business wisdom hidden in classic movie quotes.

We asked entrepreneurs which famous lines from the silver screen offer the greatest insight and advice for running a business. The top 15 are below, but we want to hear from you, too. Which other movie quotes do you think offer valuable business lessons?

"Small business owners today know that doing business can be fraught with a whirlwind of uncertainty. We can end up in places we never intended. This famous line provides small business owners with the inspiration to think beyond their own little worlds, to step out of traditional ways of doing business and explore what is possible. Yes, we are small businesses, but we have big ideas that can take us on an amazing journey." -- Cynthia Kay, president and owner of Cynthia Kay and Company in Grand Rapids, Mich.

WARNER HOME VIDEO

I have actually used this quote many times over my career to point out that times have changed. I think it is particularly relevant to baby boomers establishing themselves as entrepreneurs. Regardless of your prior life situation, you are trailblazing a new frontier as you move toward being a baby boomer business owner.

Most of us have had experience with the technical aspects of our work. Michael E. Gerber, author of The E-Myth Revisited, gives us the classic examples of cooks opening restaurants, mechanics opening auto repair shops, and carpenters becoming home builders. The problem for us is that we may not have the managerial skills to hire and train people to do that work. Even more rarely do we have the entrepreneurial skills to organize and market such a business.

Whoever you select to provide you with advice must understand what you will need to perform the full range of duties you will have in organizing your business. Plus they must have the understanding of how to teach you the business development skills required to grasp how all the pieces fit and interact with one another in the various stages of getting your business up and running.